I learned to drive a manual transmission at twelve or thirteen years old, maybe fourteen, out in the Washington desert with my old man, in a car exactly like this. Usually as the sun set over the channeled scablands of the Columbia Basin. Usually Dad had a tall vodka with ice, neat between his knees. … [read more]
Narrative
Covid Dharma
Covid Dharma 23 January, 2021 I do my best to toe the line in these covid days. So I rarely start the car, rarely drive the twelve minutes down the 1,700 feet and six miles to people, conversation, culture, comida Mexicana, and gas stations. But I went for a haircut today, fantasized showing up in … [read more]
Avian Mishegoss
Avian Mishegoss Before dawn, sitting in the dark, all the zendo windows are open and the air moves gently, a perfect temperature for me in a Golden State Warriors t-shirt, breezes dry and savory with the smells of crisping wildflowers and high mountain grasses. As if on cue, a hundred crows, jays, woodpeckers … [read more]
Sun Ra on a hot summer day
Sun Ra on a Hot Summer Day It’s a languid, Sun Ra sort of afternoon, memories peek out from the shadows, thoughts soft and ill-formed. “Really, is that true?” I am left with, “I don’t believe I know.” We have thirty air conditioners for these hot days and they all open. Proper interior temperature management … [read more]
Moments
Moments July 28, 2021 I’m doing my best to focus and stay efficient. Three screens going. A dozen apps apping away. Windows open since we’ve no A/C. 90 F outside. Lots of lists and timelines and spreadsheets. We all have multiple acre “yards” of forest, grasses, cactus and wildflowers up here. My neighbor friend Paul … [read more]
Five Days Together on Sacred Land
Image courtesy Peter Cunningham Five Days Together on Sacred Land -Geoff O’Keeffe To the east lie the Black Hills, to the west, the Bighorn Mountains. Between is a vast prairie: grasslands, sagebrush, lightly forested in places, sometimes lush, most often bone dry. The rivers are iconic, the stuff of legends: Yellowstone, Powder, North Platte, Bighorn. … [read more]